Artwork Page for Joachim and the Angel

Details / Information for Joachim and the Angel

Series Title: The Life of the Virgin

Joachim and the Angel

c. 1504

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
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Culture
Germany, early 16th Century
Medium
woodcut
Credit Line
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1959.99.3
Catalogue raisonné
Meder 190
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The first three woodcuts of Dürer’s narrative (1959.99.2-4) portray the events leading up to the Virgin’s birth. According to an apocryphal text, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, had remained childless into old age. After Joachim’s offering at the temple was rejected for this reason, the angel Gabriel appeared to him in the wilderness to announce that his wife would soon bear a child. At this news, the two tenderly embraced at the city’s gate.
A vertically oriented print in black ink depicts a winged angel floating on the left, holding a scroll with faint lettering. Below, a bearded man in voluminous robes kneels with hands raised. In the background, shepherds tend a flock of sheep near a coastal landscape with buildings and ships. Dense hatchings create textures throughout the foliage and garments. A monogrammed tablet rests on the ground in the lower right corner.

Joachim and the Angel

c. 1504

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
Germany, early 16th Century

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